Parents and staff at a Tramore primary school have criticised a decision by the Religious Sisters’ of Charity to hand over a vacant school building for use as sheltered housing instead of allowing it to remain in use as a school.
The former girls’ secondary school building was vacated four years ago when the school amalgamated with Tramore’s former boys' Christian Brothers school and moved to new facility built by the State.
The girls’ secondary school, known as the Stella Maris, has lain vacant since then. The former Christian Brothers school is also vacant, and for sale.
Tramore Educate Together Primary School is currently in temporary accommodation in a former Health Service Executive building across the road from the Sisters’ of Charity school building.
This year, due to growing pupil numbers, half of the school’s pupils have moved to accommodation in a Church of Ireland hall across the town.
The school is hoping that those pupils will be able to move into another temporary hall nearer in a month’s time.
It is hoping that by Easter, temporary prefabs will have been installed beside this hall for the rest of the school.
The prefabs will be placed on land adjacent to the Stella Maris school building. This land was sold by the Sisters of Charity to a private developer a number of years ago.
Tramore Educate Together has a two-year lease on the land. The school said it does not know where it will go when the lease expires.
Tramore Educate Together is one of a number of multi-denominational schools opened in recent years across the country to meet local demand under a State process known as divestment.
The idea was that the schools would be accommodated in Catholic school buildings that were no longer occupied. However, most of the schools remain in temporary accommodation with no sign of a permanent home.
The Department of Education has told RTÉ News that it held "discussions" with the Sisters of Charity about using the former girls secondary school in Tramore for "future educational use".
However, the congregation decided to give the building to St Vincent de Paul for use as sheltered housing instead.
The Sisters of Charity have told RTÉ News that this is "one of the greatest needs of our day".
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Parents at Tramore Educate Together said that the local community fundraised over the years for the Stella Maris school, and the local community should have a say in what happens to it now.
They also point to the fact that the Sisters of Charity owe the State €3m under the redress fund for institutional abuse, and that the State has now built a new facility for the school, of which the Sisters of Charity and the Edmund Rice Schools’ Trust remain trustees.
Parent Justin Collery told RTÉ News that the Stella Maris building had been valued at €200,000. He said purchase of the building would represent a significant saving to the State. It costs between €3m-€7m or more to build a new primary school from scratch.
The Edmund Rice Schools’ Trust is in the process of selling its former Christian Brothers’ school building, which is also vacant following the amalgamation of the two secondary schools.
The trust has told RTÉ News that it has an obligation "to realise market value for the sale of its properties and assets". It said: "Funding realised will be used for the good of the over 37,000 children and young people the trust has responsibility for."
The Department of Education has told RTÉ News that it is in discussions with the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore about the possibility of transferring a third Catholic school building in the town for use by Educate Together.
This is a primary school building that is currently occupied. A Catholic Church spokesperson has told RTÉ News that the diocese is "open" to the idea, but that there were complex legal issues involved.
However, parents at Tramore Educate Together say that this primary school building is too small. It has only seven classrooms.
They point out that Tramore ET continues to grow and will soon be a full single-stream school with eight classes from Junior Infants to Sixth Class.
